Fun in Salt Lake City

After Ben and Molly left we got to spend a few extra days at the cabin by ourselves.  One of the nights, I went down to Park City for a London friend reunion.  I love these girls and I can't believe we went to London together over 11 years ago!!  Time flies!  Anyway, we had a great time catching up.

After we left the cabin we stopped in SLC for a few days to see Garrett's Dad and step-mom.  They decided to take the kids to the zoo which was lots of fun.  The coolest part about it was that the zoo had all these lego exhibits going on which was so exciting for the kids.  

This was the giant lego area right at the front of the zoo.  

Then it was off to see the monkeys.  Dallas was so amazed by all the animals.

It was so fun to see how excited Dallas and Beckett got at being there since we haven't lived by a zoo since Beckett was born.  I feel like they have been so gipped compared to Rylynn and Carter.  In Ohio we had a season pass to the Cleveland zoo and we took them all the time.  

They had a cool little show with the elephants and they had a new baby with her mom.  She was so cute!

I have to admit that as a woman, I felt for that mom.  I had a hard enough time getting my little 9 pounder out!  I can't even imagine how much baby elephants weigh at birth.

This was one of the cool lego animal exhibits they had around the zoo.  Each one listed how many lego pieces were used.  This one was a couple thousand I think.  All the models were 3D.  The Polar bear one was amazing!

Checking out the rhinos

The polar bear exhibit was new and really cool.  Becket had front row seats to see him swimming!

Beck got so excited when he came right up to the glass.

The boys, especially Carter, were in heaven in the snake house!  Carter was counting how many different species of snake he had seen.  

Can you tell this boy likes snakes?

Grandpa opted to stay outside with the stroller.  He is not a big fan of snakes!

I loved seeing Beckett get so excited to see the animals.  This little fox was really cute.

Erika was a big help with all the kids.  They have so much fun with her.

This lego frog was at the very end.  We were all really tired and hot but I thought the frog was really cool so I made the boys take a picture for me.

We drove home on Sunday after church and finally got to stop and visit Cove Fort.  We always say we are going to on our trips back and forth between SLC and St George but we never have time.  It was a really cool tour and a great Sunday activity.

We got back just in time for school to start.  We had two days to get everyone ready for the first day.  I am still adjusting to having school start in the middle of August but it was a fun summer!

Return to Paradise

We got to go back to the cabin for a second visit in August!  Ben and Molly and their cute kids were up there when we got there so it was so much fun to see them and to have cousin time for a few days.  We had never met Redek so it was really fun to get to know him.  Dallas and Redek are only 4 months apart so they had lots of fun together.

The weather was gorgeous as always and it was so heavenly to escape the heat in St. George!  We had bonfires, made s'mores, played in the river and ponds and did a lot of swinging on the swings.

These two mostly just smiled at each other and ate rocks:)

The boys got the badminton set out and had fun with that one night.  The highlight of the trip was Daddy making new bows for the boys.  They were so excited and shot their fake stick arrows constantly.

The girls had tons of tea parties and played with the dolls when they weren't running outside and exploring.  

This "flower bridge" was their project one afternoon. They were so proud of themselves!

Ben and Garrett got to catch up on their male bonding time.  I love that my husband gets to have one of his best friends for his brother in law.  It makes getting together so fun for them.

The wildflowers were amazing this year.  Definitely not typical of August but it had been pretty rainy before we got up there.

On Sunday before Molly and Ben had to fly home we had a joint birthday celebration dinner for Beckett and Ben.  Abby and Matt came up to celebrate with us.  

I love that little grin on Beckett's face!  He was so excited to be the center of attention.

He was a big fan of his pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting!

Beckett is so fun to spoil because he is so animated and effusive.  He gets so excited about presents and this time was no different.

Beckett turned four on the 7th and we cannot believe we have been blessed to have him in our family for four years already.  I don't know if it is because we could have lost him when he fell out the window two years ago, but we just have this special place for him in our hearts.  

He lives to be included by his big brother and sister and he is our constant comic relief.  He is so passionate so he is either melting your heart with his affection, making you laugh hysterically with his theatrics, or rip your hair out with his drama.  

He was soooo excited to get these little cap guns with a holster!  He calls them his pistols and says he's a "rootin, tootin, cowboy!"

Carter tried to encourage Beckett to ask for Lego Lord of the Rings sets for his birthday but we had to explain to Carter that those sets are a little advance for Beckett since they are made for 9-14 year olds.  Carter was so disappointed when Nana and Papa got him a lego set that was made for 2-5 year olds:)  We had to explain to him that the other sets wouldn't be fun for Beckett because he could never build them himself to which Carter replied, "I know, I would build them for him!"

Beckett also got some birthday money from Grandma Ryan, Ben and Molly, and Great Grandma Allred.  He used them to buy a lego planes set.  He was so excited to have his 

"own lego sets"

Beckett wants to be big so badly.  He hates it when Carter or Rylynn tells him he's too little to do something.  He is very sad that he won't be able to eat lunch at his preschool like Rylynn and Carter get to do but he has a lunch box just in case.  He is always volunteering to say prayers and he has such a sweet little spirit.  He is great at being reverent in sunbeams and he is working on not being crazy at Family Home Evening.  He loves his little brother Dallas and tries to carry him around as often as he can, much to Dallas' chagrin!  He is so imaginative and loves to make believe.  He has the cutest sense of humor and makes us laugh every day.  He also loves reading silly books.  When he grows up he wants to be a fireman and a daddy!